The Strawberry Complex
by JenJenJen13
Summary: A collab with imjuzakyd and periberi. Shinji discovers Takako's weakness and exploits it mercilessly.


Alrighty, I should explain—this is a collab, thought up by the brilliant combination of imjuzakyd and periperichan, they invited me onto the bandwagon and I got to finish it up and upload it (they don't want the Trent Foley emails, sadly, I took one for the team).

Anyway, far be it from me to steal credit from them, chapter one is imjuzakyd and chapter two is periberi!

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**PART 1** by imjuzakyd

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She hated sweets. Sweets were for sissies who are actually just a bunch of trolls in disguise. Candies and chocolates and peppermints were for the Noriko Nakagawas, Kayoko Kotohikis and Chisato Matsuis of the world – sweet, chirpy, and oh so boring.

The fact that her best friend was currently crushing over one of them like a total idiot only made matters worse. She did not, could not, would not try to understand how anyone could like a girl who does nothing but giggle and blush and make a fuss about everything.

"Just buy her a whole pack of that thing," she hissed as Hiroki tried to guess what candy bar was Kayoko's favorite. It was her birthday the next day, and Hiroki asked her—her, of all people!—to help him look for a nice gift. As if she had anything in common with that troll!

"Come on Taka," Hiroki pleaded. "I'll promise to treat you to a latte after."

"Fine," she huffed. "Try that one." She pointed to a pack of M&M's.

"You think she'd like it?" Hiroki asked hopefully, almost shyly. She tried her best not to roll her eyes.

"She'll love it," she answered and waved off a pretty hand. "She's like a kid, right? Kids love M&M's."

If it was an indirect insult to his crush, Hiroki didn't notice. He just flashed her a grateful smile and rushed off to the counter to pay for the chocolates.

Meanwhile, Takako took the chance to take a look at the other goods in the candy store. She was eyeing an intricately designed chocolate figurine when a lollipop popped right in front of her, making her blink a couple of times at the sudden proximity of a thing so repulsive near her pretty face.

"What the—"

She turned and found the smirking face of one Shinji Mimura literally inches from hers. In fact, the only thing that separated them was the lollipop stick sticking out of his mouth.

"Mimura!" she growled, stepping backward at the sight of the current bane of her existence. Suddenly she wished Hiroki would suddenly pop behind her to save her. But no such luck. Said martial artist was currently counting coins to pay for the gift.

Damn it, she growled. Then, aloud, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Shinji chuckled. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked, pointing to his mouth. "I bought a lollipop."

"You're such a gay moron," she answered, and Shinji only laughed. He extended his right arm and offered the other lollipop to her. "Want one?"

She cringed. If there's one thing she hated more than chocolates or candy bars, it's lollipops. She just couldn't understand the idea of sticking a piece of round candy in your mouth while a stick hung outside your lips for the whole world to see. If you want an addiction, just buy a gaddamned cigarette instead. At least you wouldn't look like such a dork.

"I hate lollipops."

Shinji was unfazed. "You'll like this one, promise."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Shinji nodded. "Yep." Then inching his face closer again to hers, he whispered, "It's strawberry-flavored, just like your favorite tea."

She blinked. How in the world would he know something like that? But before she could react, Shinji already twirled the lollipop around his fingers, opened the wrapper, and popped it in her mouth.

Her initial reaction was pure murder. How dare he! But as the flavor of the lollipop melted in her mouth, she realized he was indeed right; it did taste like her favorite tea.

"I knew you'd like it," Shinji chuckled, winking before walking away. Takako, with a stick of lollipop in her mouth, stood and stared dumbly after him. "Let me know if you want more," Shinji said, turning back a bit so he could see her face one more time. "I've got a whole stash of that at home." And with another wave, he was gone.

When Hiroki came back for her after a few minutes, he found his best friend sipping on a empty lollipop stick.

"Uh, I thought you didn't like sweets?" he asked, frowning. "And where did you get that anyway? Please tell me you didn't shoplift that or something."

Takako glared. "Shut up," she growled, heading off. "I don't want a latte. Buy me some of that strawberry tea instead."

And Hiroki could only stare and blink in wonder.

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**PART 2** by periberi

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It was unbearable. The taste of the strawberry lollipop was addicting, and what was worse was she never expected it in her life to become addicted to it. What was far worse was that she only tasted it once; and now she couldn't get her mind off of it. She tried finding them in different candy stores which left Hiroki confused, but whenever he asked she would never answer him directly.

She couldn't ask Mimura either. Asking him was admitting she indeed liked it and that never spelled good for her pride; begging was never an option.

But it was really unbearable.

After a few days of being a strawberry lollipop junkie suffering from the worst withdrawal ever, she started plotting her revenge on Mimura or castrating him until he gave every single piece of strawberry lollipop he owned. It was stupid of him to tease her like that. And now that she unknowingly fell for it, it was time to take revenge. What Takako Chigusa wanted, she would eventually get.

She found him beside the gym on that last day of the week; both a direct answer from the gods and hell enthusiasts themselves. He was innocently walking towards the shower rooms; he was still sweaty from practice, but there was nothing that could burst his happy bubble with that strawberry lollipop dying inside his mouth.

"Mimura." At the sound of her voice, Shinji almost jumped in fear… and surprise (and delight).

"Anything I can do for you, princess?"

"Give me that strawberry lollipop."

Uhm, Takako, where was exactly, the revenge on that?

"You mean this one?" Shinji shoved the lollipop in her face. It took all of her might not to eat it and think about the consequences of an indirect kiss later. "Nope." And then he ate it again.

One should never test the fury of Takako Chigusa especially when she was on her limit. But Shinji Mimura didn't know that. So instead of giving in to her murderous gaze at every sucking he was doing feigning innocence, he took the whole candy off the stick and the stick inside his mouth was stuck no more.

Takako was surprised but she was not about to back down.

Shinji smirked. "If you want it so bad, come and get it." And he slightly opened his mouth to tease her a little more (she was really at her limit).

Instead of falling for that once again, in an instant, Takako Chigusa swore to herself that this was the first, the last and the ONLY time she was ever going to do something as extreme as this.

She grabbed his head and kissed him, a little forcefully, until he opened his mouth and with a little tongue technique she swept the candy out of his mouth and then to hers. She pulled away afterwards.

It was her turn to smirk. "Try to live and tell about it, and you'll never see the light of the day."

Takako walked away feeling smug to herself. Not only did she manage to get her revenge (well, it wasn't exactly the cleanest revenge but heck) and she was sure Mimura needed some scraping off his jaw with what happened, she also got her strawberry flavored lollipop.

Hiroki found her afterwards, a smile evident on her features. "You look happy."

Takako only kissed him on the cheek. "Life is good."

When she went to pick up her things, Hiroki could not un-smell the whiff of sweet strawberry as she passed.

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**PART 3** by jenipunch

(this is the part where I ruin it, you guys u_u)

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Takako showed up to practice twenty minutes early, as was custom. She had to stretch, after all, and she was never satisfied with the amateur methods her team was so fond of.

She left her gym bag in one of the lockers, and left the locker room, her right arm already being pulled behind her head and supported by her left in a stretch. Ow, ow, ow—there we go. Damn that was good.

She rounded the corner, and whose reflection in the trophy case did she see? Takako certainly knew who it was, and if you've read this far so do you; our heroine, despite not being superstitious in any way, shape or form would like to avoid mentioning his name if at all possible, lest he gain stronger with every passing of his name.

Ahem.

Anyway, it was Shinji Mimura, with his hands behind his back and an innocent smile on his lips.

Crossing the distance between them in a few fast steps, she stopped directly behind him and cleared her throat. "What are you doing here?"

Shinji turned, his expression one of feigned innocence. "Hey there princess," he greeted. Takako's eyes narrowed in response. "Quite the coincidence running into you here, hmm?"

"And all this time I thought you were at least above stalking," Takako agreed, crossing her arms across her chest loosely.

Shinji pasted an expression of hurt onto his handsome (stop thinking that, Takako—arrghh) face. "Me?" he asked guilelessly, "I've got something for you, darlin'."

"I'm listening," Takako answered, her expression similar to the face one might make when told they were to undergo unnecessary surgery.

Shinji smirked and slowly—he was a man of suspense, after all—produced a bouquet of lollipops bound together clumsily with a purple ribbon.

As in, Takako's favorite color purple.

Takako swallowed surreptitiously, hoping it wasn't terribly obvious as her pores simultaneously began to sweat. This did not bode well. Her tongue poked between her lips to moisten them, and her eyes didn't leave the sight of the bright pink wrappers protecting each individual lollipop from a bacteria-ridden fate, indicating the deliciously addicting flavor of strawberry.

Then Shinji jerked his arms behind his back, and the trance was broken; Takako stopped staring blankly at the empty void of air where the lollipops once were, and glared at Shinji expectantly.

"Where'd they gooo~?" Shinji asked, waving his hands and wiggling his fingers, "it's magic!"

"I would describe it as a death wish, actually," Takako growled, "Mimura you couldn't be more of a tease if you were naked and—HEY!"

Shinji grabbed her around her waist, pulling her to his chest, his free hand tipping her chin up so she was looking at him. "As much as I'd love to hear the end of that sentence," he began, his voice low and husky, "I think I should probably tell you that you're… more than welcome to _search my person_." And with that said and done, he kissed her ferociously.

If his mouth didn't taste so strongly of artificial strawberry syrup number two, she might have punched him in the mouth, said 'screw it', and moved on with her day. Making out with Mimura was actually not a bad way to spend one's time, sadly. But she was relentless to say nothing of her ability to spot a trap a mile away.

After all, Shinji hadn't pulled a fast one on her here. She'd walked into this one. Yep. Anyone believe her? Well, you should.

Shinji's fingers were twisting through her hair to deepen the kiss and Takako's own fingers were doing some rather thorough investigating of the topography of Shinji's rear end, and right as her hands tugged the lollipop bouquet free from their location in Shinji's back pocket, she heard a familiar voice.

"TAKAKO?"

"Oh for the love of all things good and holy this had better be pretty fucking important—" Takako whirled to face the brave soul who dared interrupt her illicit snogging with one Shinji Mimura, and her face paled seeing the familiar countenance of her best friend. "Oh. Sugi. Uh. Hi."

"How in the world do you keep her in line, Sugi?" Shinji asked, shaking his head, "girl's a feisty one, y'know what I mean?"

Hiroki sighed, tapping his nose uncomfortably. "I might've been all right with helping you two get together but I don't want to _walk in on it_," he complained.

Shinji grinned. "I'll be a bit more cautious next time," he agreed, draping his arm around the shoulders of one dumbfounded Takako Chigusa, "I think I've got the approval of the maid of honor, hon."

"The _what?_" Hiroki yelped, "fuck you, Mim!"

"What do you mean _all right helping us get together_?" Takako demanded, her brain piecing things together, "Sugimura you trolled me, didn't you?"

Hiroki offered a shy smile.

Takako narrowed her eyes, her hands clenching into fists. She offered her best friend a wide smile, which was enough to put the fear of God into the martial artist; Hiroki yelped and turned to run, but Shinji took advantage of her momentary distraction to pull her to his chest and kiss the sense out of her once more.

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And that's a wrap! :D I hope you guys liked it, periberi and imjuzakyd included!


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